NABO and IWA putting support behind HVO
AS THE member of the Inland Waterways Association’s (IWA) Sustainable Boating Group, writes Jonathan Mosse,
I am tasked with assessing the suitability of Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) for use in inland craft, I’m delighted to learn that the National Association of Boat Owners (NABO) is putting its support behind this fuel.
Assessing HVO
The IWA have spent last winter assessing HVO in the range of applications in which boaters use their fuel, from propulsion to heating, cooking to electricity generation. In all cases the fuel produced a cleaner burn, with fewer deposits and less odour and black smoke. In the case of propulsion, it has been widely observed that diesel engines generally ran more quietly.
The fuel meets the EN15490 specification for paraffinic fuels and carries OEM approval from all the world’s major diesel engine manufacturers and marinisers. The final part of the IWA’s exercise is to trial the fuel in heritage and classic engines, where the manufacturer is no longer extant. To this end the fuel is currently on test in a Bolinder diesel and a semi-diesel and in a Gardiner diesel and a semi-diesel.
90% carbon neutral
At 90% carbon neutral, HVO burns with a reduction of up to of 30% NoX and more than 80% particulate matter (PMs). It has fuelled most Lister and Petter variants over the past couple of years and will shortly find its way into a BMC engine or two. Russell Newberys and Nationals will follow shortly!
To ensure supply, it is now essential that we stimulate demand so that boatyards and fuel boats alike start to stock the fuel, following in the footsteps of Lee Wiltshire (07970 704532) who supplies the fuel in the London area from nb Barnet.
For those who want to know more about HVO (and where it fits into the wider sustainable boating picture) the IWA will be giving informal seminars at both the Crick Boat Show (20th – 22nd August) and the IWA Festival of Water to be held at Worcester over the bank holiday weekend of 28th – 30th August.